YPSILANTI, Mich. — Just a few minutes at home, the road trip continues this week so Uncle Mel is retooling the luggage, collecting and reading the mail and getting a quick hot meal before getting back to the highway.

Well my nieces and nephew, the Eastern Michigan University football team is in the middle of three consecutive games away from the friendly confines and cozy home of the Eagles, Rynearson Stadium.

Last week, the Eagles traveled to the friendliest city in the whole United States of America according to the people who reside in the home of the oldest variety show on the radio, the Grand Old Opera and with roadside signs of a grinning Dolly Parton peering down at road wary warriors, says hello to the road traveler to Nashville, Tennessee.

Vanderbilt University crushed Eastern Michigan University 52-6 at the regal looking Vanderbilt Stadium in front of 33,107 satisfied Commodore fans.

Like walking the plank, the Eagles defense gave away 24 unanswered points in the second quarter and pretty much sunk the ship for the Eagles.

“ I have never seen a game get a way from you so fast,” Eastern Michigan University football coach Ron English said after the game. “I think at this level, when you do not take advantage of opportunities or you do not put pressure on the other team, particularity when you are not really talented yourself, you are going to struggle. I think that is what happen here.”

English also said after the game the same mistakes that plague this defense keeps showing up during the game.

“ We have a chance to make that a 17-7 game, and we miss two passes that are wide open. If we hit that it’s 10-7, and there was another one there with a guy that was wide open, which would have made it 17-7,” English said about the chances that did not happen. “ And there were a couple of third downs in there where we had one guy making multiple mistakes.”

The idea of making mistakes and learning from them is called getting an education and in this case it would be called coaching and if a player is not grasping the idea of the philosophy then the other choice is the cold feel of the aluminum of the bench pressing on the backside of the football pants of the player not receiving the lesson.

English said on one occasion after the 52-14 blowout against Central Michigan University that he had a linebacker that is not making the correct reads and getting to the place on the field that he was needed and the result is evident by the score.

After the 30-17 defeat of the Homecoming game against Ohio University English told reporters for his team to improve the Eagles have to block people and people need not to miss there assignments.

For English he is use to having good players that arrive into a program that is bigger and faster and the question of being an athlete is never questioned. They enter a program willing to get an education in the classroom and also on the practice field.

He coached at the University of Michigan under the direction of Lloyd Carr and English has worked at places were it did take time to win but watching English now and you keep seeing a coach and a man searching for some key to reach these players.

“We have to find a way to finish,” English said. “We have six games left and we have to turn this thing around because, we played some opponents that were better, but I would like to have a better showing than this.”

Now the second half of the season begins Saturday afternoon at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana the home Ball Mason Jars and a lot of farm fields that surrounds the countryside.

Eastern Michigan will be hoping for a chance to make hay under the blue Indiana sky against a Cardinal team that was beaten soundly by Western Michigan University 45-16, Ball State University football coach Stan Parrish described the game as an unrecognizable picture of his team.

English is hoping that the Eagles can keep the Cardinals in a state of confusion Saturday afternoon at Scheumann Stadium with not just a win but a road victory and sending the Cardinals fans screaming into the cornfields.

The mobile news room is loaded with a full tank of gas and plenty of souvenirs from Nashville in the compact disk player and Uncle Mel has added a green John Deere baseball cap and plenty of flannel shirts to the wardrobe for the road trip into Muncie, Indiana.